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No.  1— pp.  1-4  September  10,  1919 

/ANTHROPOLOGIC  SCRAPS.)       31^ 

• — ^         Li  ^7 

1211  Harvard  Street,  Washington,  D.  C. 


A  STUDY  OF  SKULLS  AND  PROBABILITIES. 


In  1887  a  workman,  in  digging  a  grave  on  one  of  the  highest  knolls 
of  Riverview  Cemetery,  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  found  a  human 
skull  at  a  depth  of  about  3  feet.  This  skull  was  given  to  Mr.  E.  Volk 
and  by  him  was  turned  over  to  the  Peabody  Museum  at  Cambridge. 
Mr.  Volk  examined  the  grave  and  found  no  evidences  that  the  materials 
overlying  the  skull  had  suffered  any  previous  disturbance.  The 
grave  digger  observed  in  the  soil  only  a  few  black  lines.  It  was  at 
once  recognized  by  Prof.  F.  W.  Putnam  that  this  skull  was  very  dif- 
ferent from  any  of  the  Indian  skulls  found  in  that  region.  Accom- 
panying it  were  no  other  bones  whatever.  It  becomes  a  problem  to 
the  geologist  and  anthropologist  to  determine  how  that  skull  got 
there  and  its  geological  age  and  racial  relationship;  and  when  they 
have  done  their  best  the  solution  will  be  reached  by  a  balancing  of 
probabilities.     Scarcely  one  fact  in  the  case  is  absolutely  certain. 

Probably  the  judgment  of  the  great  majority  of  persons  would  be 
that  a  skull  found  thus  alone  in  a  loose  deposit  had  become  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  skeleton  and  been  swept  along  with  the  sand  and 
gravel  by  water  or  whatever  agency  had  deposited  the  earthy  ma- 
terials. This  general  opinion  might  be  regarded  as  a  measure  of  the 
probabilities  in  the  case;  but  it  would  not  be  necessarily  correct. 
Might  not,  therefore,  the  skull  have  been  intentionally  buried  there, 
with  or  without  the  rest  of  the  body,  at  some  time  nearby  or  far 
away?  The  fact  that  no  disturbance  was  noted  in  the  loam  and  sand 
and  gravel  appears  to  furnish  probabilities  against  such  a  burial,  for 
such  disturbances  persist  for  an  indefinite  time.  In  case  the  idea  of 
a  purposive  burial  is  still  entertained,  one  must  take  into  account  the 
chances  that  all  the  other  bones  of  the  body  might  decay  utterly  and 
leave  the  skull  in  fair  condition.  Even  the  lower  jaw,  one  of  the 
most  persistent  bones,  was  gone.     Also  all  of  the  upper  teeth  must 


2  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

have  completely  rotted  in  their  sockets,  while  the  alveolar  processes 
in  part  remained.  Although  the  compact  limb  bones  and  the  teeth 
were  gone,  the  thin  bones  of  the  skull,  even  some  of  those  of  the  nasal 
passages,  remained  intact. 

If  the  skull  belonged  in  the  yellow  loam  of  that  locality  and  not  in 
the  Trenton  gravel,  we  possess  some  facts  bearing  on  the  case.  Volk 
found  at  the  bottom  of  this  loam  remains  of  several  skeletons,  and 
these  have  been  studied  by  Dr.  Ales  Hrdlicka  (Bull.  Amer.  Mus.  Nat. 
Hist.,  Vol.  XVI,  1902,  p.  46).  Of  five  crania  only  a  few  pieces  were 
preserved,  all  too  small  to  be  of  any  use.  A  number  of  long  bones, 
however,  furnished  measurements  and  notes.  These  deep  and  evi- 
dently old  burials  do  not,  therefore,  appear  to  favor  the  probability 
that  the  Riverview  skull  was  a  recent  inhumation. 

Now  as  regards  the  geological  age  and  racial  relationships  of  the 
Riverview  man.  Inasmuch  as  for  40  years  it  has  been  contended 
that  the  Trenton  loam  contained  evidences  of  a  culture  different  from 
that  of  the  modern  Indians  and  much  older,  it  was  natural  that  some 
bold,  possibly  rash,  spirit  would  be  led  to  connect,  at  least  provision- 
ally, the  peculiar  skull  with  the  supposed  ancient  race.  Doctor 
Hrdlicka  permitted  himself  to  do  this  (op.  cit.  p.  57).  He  concluded 
that,  in  case  the  skull  was  not  intrusive,  the  problem  became  one 
almost  wholly  of  geology. 

In  1907  (Bull.  33,  Amer.  Ethnol.,  pp.  36-46)  Doctor  Hrdlicka,  then 
come  into  the  Government  service,  returned  to  the  subject,  having 
meanwhile  made  a  discovery.  From  the  literature  of  anthropology 
he  had  learned  of  the  occurrence  of  a  number  of  extraordinarily  low 
skulls  along  the  northwestern  coast  of  Germany  and  Holland.  In 
lowness  and  some  other  features  these  approximated  to  the  type  of 
the  Neanderthal  cranium.  To  this  conformation  of  skull  is  applied 
the  term  chamaecephaly.  Doctor  Hrdlicka  concluded  that  close  kin- 
ship existed  between  the  European  and  the  New  Jersey  specimens, 
that  the  type  of  skull  is  very  old,  and  that  the  American  representa- 
tives may  have  traversed  the  Atlantic  Ocean  many  thousands  of  years 
ago.  However,  he  went  on  to  say  that  the  probabilities  are  against 
the  ancient  origin  of  the  Riverview  skull;  and  he  proceeded  to  draw 
on  the  history  of  the  region.  It  had  been  peopled  largely  by  Swedes; 
but  the  skull  was  not  that  of  a  Swede.  Among  the  Swedes  there  were 
found  to  be  some  immigrants  from  Holland,  "among  whom  were  very 
likely  individuals  of  the  low  cranial  type."  He  concluded  that  the 
deposits  in  which  the  Riverview  skull  was  found  do  not  preclude  a 


y 


A  Study  of  Skulls  and  Probabilities.  3 

comparatively  recent  burial  and  that  it  seemed  safer  and  more  in  line 
with  known  evidence  to  regard  the  skull  as  of  relatively  modern  and 
European  origin  than  as  a  representative  of  Quaternary  man. 

For  those  who  do  not  care  to  have  their  conclusions  handed  to 
them  ready  made  there  is  offered  here  a  fine  exercise  in  the  balancing  of 
probabilities. 

First  may  be  considered  the  question  whether  or  not  any  of  the 
Dutch  chamaecephals  really  came  to  the  new  settlement  at  Trenton. 
It  is  possible,  indeed,  that  all  such  individuals  in  Holland  and  Ger- 
many reached  that  place.  This  would  easily  explain  the  fact  that 
none  appear  to  have  been  recognized  since  that  time  in  the  formerly 
infested  European  region.  It  would  further  make  it  probable  that 
a  considerable  number  of  chamaecephals  might  now  be  found  in  the 
population  of  Trenton,  especially  among  the  descendants  of  the  old 
families.  On  the  other  hand,  one  might  insist  that  there  is  a  strong 
probability  that  none  whatever  of  these  low-browed  Dutch  came  to 
the  region ;  and  this  view  might  be  supported  by  noting  the  probable 
trifling  ratio  of  Dutch  chamaecephals  about  250  years  ago  to  the 
number  of  Dutchmen  possessing  normal  domes.  The  present  writer, 
however,  wishes  to  be  generous,  and  he  grants  that  as  many  as  two 
of  these  persons  with  depressed  cranial  vaults  may  have  wandered 
to  the  pleasant  banks  of  the  Delaware. 

Let  us  suppose  now  that  in  1887  some  shrewd  gambler  (or  even  the 
reader)  had  been  told  that  several  hundred  years  ago  men  existed  in 
Holland  who  had  chamaecephalic  skulls,  that  some  of  their  descendants 
probably  existed  up  to  about  200  years  ago,  and  that  very  likely  indi- 
viduals of  these  came  to  New  Jersey;  that,  further,  he  is  invited  to 
wager  a  sum  of  money  that  the  newly  opened  grave  in  Riverview 
Cemetery  belonged  to  one  of  these  defectives  and  that  his  identity 
would  be  established.  When  the  chances  are  even,  odds  can  hardly 
be  demanded;  but  what  odds  might  be  required  on  such  a  proposi- 
tion? Suppose  further  that  he  is  asked  to  wager  that  of  the  skeleton 
every  shred  had  disappeared  except  the  well-preserved  skull  minus 
the  lower  jaw;  how  many  fold  must  the  odds  have  been  increased? 
If,  when  the  question  of  racial  identification  came  up,  the  chamae- 
cephalic skulls  discovered  in  Holland  had  been  laid  out  on  one  side 
and  the  Indian  skulls  of  low  type  described  and  figured  by  Hrdlicka 
(Bull.  33,  p.  99,  pis.  xiv-xxi)  on  the  other,  as  standards  of  com- 
parison, would  the  aleatory  venture  have  appeared  more  or  less  prom- 
ising?   Would  not  our  prospective  investor  in  chances  have  wanted 


4  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

to  consult  a  board  of  experts,  and  besides  have  wished  to  know  some- 
thing about  the  anthropological  prejudices  of  the  stakeholder? 

Suppose  now  that  our  man  has  made  up  his  mind  as  to  the  odds 
that  he  will  demand  to  balance  his  risks,  and  he  then  happens  to  learn 
the  facts  about  the  remains  found  near  Sykesville,  Burlington  County, 
those  of  a  second  chamaecephal  who  may  have  come  to  New  Jersey. 
Would  he  have  regarded  it  as  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world 
that  two  such  rarely  endowed  personages,  old  companions  in  exile, 
should,  after  two  centuries  of  repose,  happen  to  come  forth  from  their 
graves  so  nearly  at  the  same  time;  or  would  he  look  upon  it  as  quite 
improbable?  Let  him  further  learn  that  in  the  Sykesville  case,  as  in 
the  one  he  was  thinking  of  betting  on,  no  lower  jaw  was  secured  and 
no  other  bones  except  the  moderately  preserved  skull.  Would  he 
conclude  that  two  complex  combinations  of  that  kind  were  likely  to 
come  to  pass?  Would  he  demand  then  simply  that  the  odds  be  again 
doubled  or  that  they  be  multiplied  by  2n? 

The  writer  will  not  attempt  to  answer  these  questions.  It  is  for 
each  reader  to  determine  for  himself  where  the  figure  ought  to  be 
placed  between  even  money  and  a  sum  that  would  tax  resources 
superior  to  those  of  the  luxurious  Count  of  Monte  Cristo.  But  the 
reader  has  also  the  privilege  of  suspecting  that  the  Biverview  skull 
and  that  from  Sykesville  are  two  out  of  many  thousands,  chamae- 
cephalic  or  normal,  that  were  buried,  intentionally  or  by  accident, 
in  that  region  many  hundreds,  it  may  be  thousands,  of  years  ago; 
and  that  of  these,  without  any  miracle,  others  in  due  time  will  come 
to  light.  The  identification  of  the  skulls  as  those  of  expatriated 
lowbrows  from  the  Zuyder  Zee  may  be  looked  upon  kindly  as  a  well- 
meant  effort  to  bring  somewhat  tardy  relief  in  a  case  that  was  critical. 

Oliver  P.  Hay. 


No.  2— pp.  5-8.  December  3,  1919. 

ANTHROPOLOGIC  SCRAPS. 

1211  Habvard  Street.  W.^suington,  D.  C. 


ON  PLEISTOCENE  MAN  AT  TRENTON,  NEW  JERSEY. 


The  writer  sees  fit  to  continue  the  discussion  of  the  presence  of 
Pleistocene  man  in  North  America. 

More  than  40  years  ago  the  late  Dr.  C.  C.  Abbott  called  attention 
to  the  occurrence  of  rude  argillite  artifacts  in  the  sandy  loam  of  the 
high  terrace  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  His  opinion  was  that  the  ob- 
jects represented  a  culture  far  older  and  more  primitive  than  that 
of  the  modern  Indians.  Opposition  was  not  slow  in  presenting  itself; 
and  the  ensuing  dispute  culminated  in  the  debate  at  the  Detroit  meet- 
ing of  the  American  Association,  in  1897  (Proc.  A.  A.  A.  S.  Vol.  XLVI, 
pp.  344-390).  That  discussion  furnishes  reading  that  is  even  yet 
interesting  and  instructive. 

The  contestants  were  about  equally  divided  in  numbers.  There 
was  agreement  as  to  the  presence  of  three  deposits,  the  upper  black 
soil  about  1  foot  thick,  the  yellow  loam  2  feet  thick,  and  the  under- 
lying Trenton  gravel;  also  as  to  the  glacial  age  of  the  gravel.  The 
battle  was  over  the  yellow  loam,  its  age,  the  agencies  that  had  laid 
it  down,  its  subsequent  modifications,  and  the  origin  of  the  included 
artifacts.  The  believers  in  the  existence  of  glacial  man  insisted  that 
the  loam  had  been  deposited  while  the  glacial  front  was  yet  not  many 
miles  away,  by  the  waters  of  the  Delaware,  flowing  yet,  at  least  during 
floods,  at  the  level  of  the  terrace;  that  the  loam  had  suffered  little 
subsequent  disturbance;  and  that  the  artifacts  had  been  included 
at  the  time  of  deposition  of  the  loam.  The  opposition  contended 
that  none  of  these  propositions  were  supported  by  sufficient  evidence. 
The  loam,  they  argued,  might  have  been  laid  down  as  asserted,  or  at 
a  later  time  by  marine  waters,  or  by  the  action  of  winds.  The  arti- 
facts might  have  been  included  at  the  beginning  or  introduced  at  any 
subsequent  time.  However  the  loam  had  come  there,  it  had  later 
undergone  extensive  derangement.  Disturbances  had  been  produced 
by  freezing  and  thawing,  by  the  penetration  of  roots  of  trees,  by  the 


2  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

uprooting  of  trees  during  storms,  by  the  drilling  occasioned  by  insects 
and  worms,  by  the  burrowing  of  mammals,  by  the  digging  of  graves, 
by  the  planting  of  palisades,  by  the  crumbling  of  banks,  and  like 
causes.  It  was  denied  that  the  artifacts  had  been  produced  by  a 
people  other  than  the  ancestors  of  modern  Indians. 

These  dissenters  presented  no  statistics  to  show  how  many  trees 
are  uprooted  on  a  square  mile  in  that  region  during  a  definite  term 
of  years  and  what  effects  are  thereby  produced.  Nor  did  any  one 
calculate  how  many  thousands  of  years  it  would  require  for  an  average 
population  of  woodchucks,  the  most  assiduous  and  extensive  bur- 
rowers,  to  turn  over  that  loam  and  mingle  with  it  the  stones  of  the 
underlying  gravels  and  the  artifacts  of  the  overlying  soil.  He  might 
have  given  himself  a  large  surprise  by  a  minimum  of  figuring. 

Now,  has  that  loam  really  been  disturbed  to  any  appreciable  ex- 
tent? We  may  gain  information  from  two  sources.  The  formation  is 
traversed  by  3  or  4  red  bands  which  vary  much  in  thickness,  but  which 
are  very  persistent.  At  the  Detroit  meeting  there  was  a  pronounced 
difference  of  opinion  whether  these  represented  planes  of  stratifica- 
tion or  bands  of  segregation,  later  produced.  Which  explanation  is 
the  true  one  is  for  our  purpose  of  little  consequence.  The  bands  cer- 
tainly had  not  been  formed  suddenly  or  recently.  If  all  the  disturb- 
ances that  have  been  invoked  had  occurred  there,  those  bands,  if  of 
stratification,  would  long  ago  have  been  broken  up;  or,  if  of  segregation, 
could  never  have  come  into  existence.  Their  condition  of  practical 
continuity  is  evidence  against  the  theory  of  extensive  disturbances. 

Testimony  was  rendered  at  the  Detroit  meeting  by  at  least  two 
geologists,  and  it  has  been  confirmed  by  others,  that  in  nearly  all  cases 
the  artifacts  are  found  lying  horizontally  on  their  flat  faces.  How 
was  it  possible  for  these  objects  to  retain  their  horizontality  if  the 
ground  had  been  so  thoroughly  worked  over  as  claimed?  How  could 
they  have  assumed  and  retained  so  generally  this  position,  in  case 
that  they  had  made  their  way  from  the  surface  by  way  of  gopher  holes 
and  holes  produced  by  the  roots  of  trees?  And,  by  the  way,  it  would 
have  been  a  valuable  contribution  to  geology,  and  to  anthropology 
likewise,  if  some  one  had  explained  just  how  tree  roots  function  in 
introducing  objects  from  the  surface  into  deep  soils,  and  to  what  ex- 
tent they  effect  this. 

Now  must  be  considered  the  results  of  the  investigations  instituted 
by  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York,  as  reported 
by  Mr.  Leslie  Spier  and  Dr.  Clark  Wissler  (Amer.  Anthropologist, 
Vol.  XVIII,  1916,  pp.  181-197).     In  running  their  trenches  the  ex- 


On  Pleistocene  Man  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  3 

cavators  noted  the  exact  position  of  each  pebble  and  of  each  artifact, 
and  the  results  have  been  tabulated  and  illustrated  graphically.  Both 
the  pebbles  and  the  artifacts  were  found  to  be  not  indiscriminately 
scattered.  They  are  most  abundant  along  a  plane  about  the  middle 
of  the  loam.  Downward,  they  diminish  in  numbers  to  a  barren  zone; 
upward,  to  a  nearly  barren  zone  just  below  the  black  soil.  How  can 
those  who  promote  the  theory  of  disturbances  and  adventitious  intro- 
ductions explain  this  apparent  attraction  of  the  median  plane  for  ob- 
jects both  ascending  and  descending?  In  an  important  work  just 
issued  (Bull.  60,  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.,  p.  77)  and  dealing  largely  with 
the  antiquity  of  man  in  America,  the  old  view  is  revamped;  and  there 
is  not  the  slightest  allusion  to  Spier's  and  Wissler's  subversive  studies. 
Furthermore,  if  that  loam,  with  its  gravel,  is  of  aeolian  origin  we  have 
there  a  remarkable  record  of  a  secular  beginning,  culmination,  and 
decline  of  high  winds.  And,  mind  you,  the  vertical  distribution  of 
the  artifacts  coincides  with  that  of  the  pebbles.  Must  we  therefore 
conclude  that  a  race  of  argillite  men,  starting  from  a  feeble  stock,  in- 
creased, flourished  for  a  while,  and  then  pari  passu  with  the  winds, 
degenerated  and  disappeared?  It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  the 
boulders  found  in  the  loam  were  blown  there.  Is  it  possible  that  they 
were  carried  there  by  the  argillite  men  as  ballast? 

The  reports  alluded  to  show,  further,  that  the  artifacts,  probably 
also  the  pebbles,  are  not  evenly  distributed  horizontally,  but  occur  in 
patches,  toward  the  center  of  which  they  are  most  numerous.  How 
are  our  good  friends  who  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  adventitious  agen- 
cies going  to  explain  this  distribution?  An  eddy  in  a  stream  would 
produce  just  that  result.  In  such  a  swirl  pebbles  and  artifacts  would 
tend  to  be  drawn  toward  the  center.  If  the  conformation  of  the  river 
bed  and  of  the  shore  were  such  as  to  produce  a  succession  of  eddies, 
and  if  the  current  were  at  the  same  time  attacking  a  bank  containing 
pebbles  and  artifacts,  these  would  probably  be  distributed  as  they  are 
at  Trenton.  Out  of  such  a  bank  may  have  come  also  that  Riverview 
skull,  the  relic  of  the  man  who  has  been  made  to  pose  as  a  chamae- 
cephalic  Dutchman. 

The  terrace  at  Trenton  is  spread  out  as  a  great  experimental  farm 
where  the  adventitious  agencies  have  had  full  play.  The  theory  that 
these  have  done  the  work  attributed  to  them  has  been  tested.  A 
more  complete  confutation  of  that  theory  could  hardly  be  desired  or 
feared.  That  theory,  which  has  been,  as  it  were,  standardized  since 
the  Trenton  dispute  began,  has  been  applied  to  nearly  every  case  in 
which  the  presence  of  Pleistocene  man  has  been  suspected.     Only 


4  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

recently  (Jour.  Geology,  Vol.  XXVIII,  pp.  305-338)  our  great  and 
honored  geologist  at  Chicago  has  applied  it  with  additional  rigor  to 
the  discoveries  at  Vero,  Florida.  At  this  stage,  however,  the  theory, 
discredited  at  its  place  of  birth  and  of  admittedly  doubtful  applica- 
bility in  the  great  majority  of  cases  subjected  to  it,  appears  to  require 
extensive  modifications,  restrictions  and  reservations.  One  may  view 
with  tranquil  mind  the  outcome  of  the  situation  at  Vero. 

If,  when  the  eminent  geologist  referred  to  undertook  to  decipher 
the  history  of  the  glacial  period  in  North  America  he  had  imposed  on 
himself  the  solution  of  every  doubtful  problem  that  presented  itself, 
had  listened  to  the  cries  of  those  who  feared  that  he  would  sacrifice 
his  scientific  reputation  and  would  do  violence  to  common  sense,  re- 
ligion and  science, — if  he  had  on  these  accounts  hesitated,  he  would 
have  accomplished  little.  He  had,  however,  the  sagacity  to  discern 
the  essential  features  of  the  problem  and  to  draw  conclusions  from 
them,  and  to  leave  the  minor  difficulties  to  the  future.  He  has  there- 
by made  a  notable  contribution  to  human  knowledge. 

Some  of  the  perils  attending  attempts  at  prophecy  are  illustrated 
by  the  debate  at  Detroit  and  by  subsequent  events.  Along  the  cut 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  in  Trenton  many  artifacts  had  been 
found  which  purported  to  come  from  the  Trenton  gravel.  One  of  the 
speakers,  author  of  very  much  meritorious  work,  insisted  that  the 
deposits  had  been  reworked  by  the  nearby  stream;  and  that,  since 
such  reworked  deposits  had  been  removed,  nothing  for  5  years  had 
been  found.  All  then  was  at  an  end  for  the  pretended  glacial  man. 
Two  years  passed,  however,  and  patient,  watchful  Ernest  Volk 
brought  out  of  the  gravels  a  piece  of  human  femur  and  a  part  of  a  skull. 
Does  the  author  of  Bulletin  60  admit  that,  on  his  own  showing,  those 
bones  decide  the  case  against  him?  Unfortunately  one  finds  no  such 
concession. 

If  anthropologists  should  feel  themselves  compelled,  as  indeed  some 
are  feeling  themselves  compelled  (Nelson,  in  Nat.  Hist.,  New  York, 
Vol.  XIX,  p.  139),  to  admit  that  human  beings  were  living  at  Trenton 
at  the  close  of  the  glacial  period,  they  can  not  stop  there.  Neither 
red  Indians  nor  argillite  men  could  probably  have  made  their  way  from 
Asia  over  the  great  wall  of  Wisconsin  ice  that  stretched  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Pacific.  They  must  have  been  in  North  America  during 
the  Peorian  interglacial.  If  anthropologists  are  driven  to  accept  this 
view  they  will  then  have  set  their  feet  on  a  path  that  slopes  down 
steeply  and  inevitably  to  the  early  Pleistocene. 

Oliver  P.  Hay. 


Xo.  3— pp.  9-12.  March  29,  1920. 

ANTHROPOLOGIC  SCRAPS. 

1211  Harvard  Street.  Washington,  D.  C. 


BULLETIN  60,  BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN  ETHNOLOGY. 


Let  no  one  suppose  t  hat,,  ii*  penning  these  articles  on  the  antiquity 
of  man  in  America,  the  writer  is  inspired  by  ill-feeling  toward  any  one 
who  holds  opposite  views  No  such  sentiment  is  entertained;  not 
even  toward  the  anthropologist  who  would  try  to  run  in  as  changelings, 
for  one  Pleistocene  man  a  base-born  Caucasio-Amerind  and  for  an- 
other an  astray  chamsecephalic  Dutchman.  I  honor  my  scientific 
confreres  and  desire  greatly  to  turn  some  of  them  from  the  errors  of 
their  ways. 

The  Bureau  of  Ethnology  not  long  ago  issued  its  Bulletin  No.  60. 
The  author  is  the  head-curator  of  anthropology  in  the  U.  S.  National 
Museum;  the  major  subject  is  the  lithic  industries  of  the  aboriginals 
in  America.  So  far  as  the  present  writer  can  judge,  the  principal 
theme  has  been  elaborated  b3'the  strong  and  steady  hand  of  a  master. 
In  an  introductory  portion  of  nearly  100  pages  the  antiquity  of  man 
in  the  country  is  considered.  Here  the  strokes  are  usually  bold 
enough,  but,  in  the  present  writer's  view,  are  not  always  happily  di- 
rected. The  conclusions  reached  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago  are  re-affirmed.  More  recent  discoveries  have  not  shaken  seri- 
ously the  foundation  of  the  author's  faith.  Long  ago  a  sort  of  alge- 
braic formula  was  worked  out  in  which,  when  the  substitutions,  of  what- 
ever value,  were  duly  made,  x  always  came  out  with  the  same  value : 
There  are  doubtful  elements  in  the  case;  be  cautious ;  reserve  a  decision. 
We  are  still  assured  of  the  accuracy  and  usefulness  of  this  formula. 

Aside  from  the  question  of  man's  antiquity  on  this  continent  the 
author  of  the  work  seems  to  be  no  more  cautious  than  the  average  of 
scientific  writers.  He  appears  to  be  convinced  of  the  essential  unity 
of  the  human  race  and  of  the  derivation  of  the  American  Indian  from 
Asiatic  ancestors;  but  enough  objections  might  be  opposed  to  these 
propositions  to  deter  an  extremely  cautious  man  from  committing 


10  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

himself.  He  seems  to  believe  (p.  47)  that  almost  any  kind  of  a  primi- 
tive people,  of  however  little  capability  and  culture,  cast  into  the 
Pueblo  region,  would  at  length  have  attained  the  Pueblo  stage  of  cult- 
ure; although  most  people  have  faith  in  the  precept: — Mens  agitat 
molem.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  whites  who  take  possession 
of  that  region  will  reach  the  same  stage  of  civilization.  He  seems  to 
be  convinced  that  the  ancestors  of  our  Indians  crossed  Bering  Strait 
on  the  ice  and  in  some  way  slipped  around  the  Wisconsin  glacier  and 
reached  the  Atlantic  coast  not  long  after,  if  not  before,  the  glacier 
had  retired  from  our  States.  In  view  of  the  mass  of  evidence,  much 
of  it  produced  by  trained  scientific  men,  to  the  effect  that  man  was 
here  before  the  Wisconsin  ice  period,  the  author  does  not  appear 
to  employ  the  cautious  methods  that  he  recommends  to  others. 

The  doctrine  that  men  lived  from  sea  to  sea  in  Europe  during  the 
Pleistocene  is  accepted  (p.  36)  without  hesitation,  because  there 
their  bones  and  artifacts  are  associated  with  remains  of  extinct  ani- 
mals, including  the  mammoth  and  the  mastodon.  Again  and  again 
in  our  own  country,  bones  of  men  and  relics  of  their  handiwork  have 
been  found  buried  in  deposits  laid  down  well  back  in  the  Pleistocene, 
or  mingled  with  remains  of  animals  long  ago  extinct;  but  on  this  side 
of  the  sea  nature  is  roundly  denounced  as  playing  Mephistophelian 
tricks  on  us  to  the  extent  that  her  teachings,  as  regards  Pleistocene 
man  at  least,  are  thoroughly  discredited. 

An  argument  against  man's  early  presence  in  our  region  is  derived 
(p.  38)  from  the  fact  that  none  of  his  remains  have  been  found  in  early 
deposits  in  the  region  about  Bering  Strait.  The  bear  Ursus  amsricanus 
has  been  identified  from  early  Pleistocene  deposits  (Aftonian).  His 
forebears  undoubtedly  arrived  via  Bering  Strait.  We  are  hardly 
obliged  to  regard  the  Aftonian  as  very  recent  because  no  bones  of 
this  bear  have  been  found  in  early  deposits  in  Alaska;  nor  need  we 
believe  that  the  specimen,  a  jaw,  worked  its  way  down  into  the 
Aftonian  through  crevices  or  gopher  holes.  We  are  not  obliged  to 
point  out  a  trail  of  bones  all  the  way  back  to  India  and  Africa  to 
prove  the  geological  age  and  the  relationship  of  our  American  eland 
to  that  of  Africa.  And  then  even  if  there  had  been  found  in  early 
deposits  along  Bering  Strait  a  skull  of  a  low-browed  human  it  would 
probably  have  been  at  once  clapped  on  the  shouders  of  some  mythical 
pilgrim  from,  perhaps,  Borkum  isle  or  Lopperzum. 

Paucity  of  numbers  among  primitive  men  is  in  the  way  of  becoming 


Bulletin  60,  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology.  11 

an  anthropological  dogma.  It  seems  to  be  thought  that  the  first 
human  beings,  savage  and  living  from  hand  to  mouth,  were  as  infertile 
as  the  prosperous  and  educated  folk  of  our  own  time.  The  way  in 
which  the  primitive  peoples  took  possession  of  the  world,  despite  the 
hindrances  encountered,  rude  climates,  mountains,  broad  seas,  deserts, 
wild  beasts,  and  diseases,  shows  that  they  were  a  vigorous  and  adapta- 
ble race  and  that  they  obeyed  cheerfully  the  divine  command  imposed 
on  the  first  pair. 

The  reputed  discovery  of  human  relics  at  Table  Mountain,  Cali- 
fornia, is  again  discussed  (pp.  61-68).  During  a  period  of  thirty  or 
forty  years  miners  continued  to  report  the  rinding  of  human  remains 
and  artifacts,  many  of  them  in  tunnels  beneath  layers  of  lava.  The 
matter  was  investigated  by  various  persons,  many  of  them  men  of 
education  and  high  intelligence.  We  are  told,  however,  that  these 
men  lacked  discrimination  or  were  the  victims  of  their  own  gulli- 
bility and  the  humorous  trickery  of  the  miners.  This  explanation 
has  been  presented  so  often  that  our  anthropologists  evidently  be- 
lieve that  joking  may  become  a  serious  matter.  We  are  now  told 
(p.  67)  that  the  mining  camp  is  the  natural  home  of  practical  joking. 
Mining  communities  have  indeed  a  reputation  for  occasional  wild 
behaviour;  but  few  of  us  have  supposed  that  the  sending  thither  of 
governmental  commissions  and  of  armed  troops  was  for  the  purpose 
of  suppressing  exuberant  hilarity.  It  seems  that  it  requires  the  poeti- 
cal (Bret  Harte)  and  the  artistic  temperaments  to  detect,  amid  the 
grosser  manifestations  of  the  mentality  of  miners,  the  subtile  presence 
of  the  practical  jest.  Within  our  wide-flung  boundaries  are  mines  of 
coal,  iron,  lead,  copper,  silver — hundreds  of  happy  homes  for  practi- 
cal jokes.  Strange  it  is,  that  nowhere  has  this  form  of  human  activity 
furnished  any  such  products,  backed  by  at  least  plausible  evidence, 
as  it  did  at  Table  Mountain.  Otherwise  our  museums  might  have 
been  enriched  by  human  skulls  and  fashioned  flints  from  all  geologi- 
cal formations  from  the  Archaean  to  the  Eocene;  unless,  indeed,  our 
anthropological  curators  had  been  still  more  strenuous  in  their  efforts 
to  keep  their  cases  clear  of  specimens  that  did  not  add  embellishment 
to  their  theories  (Science,  vol.  47,  p.  561). 

The  author  of  Bulletin  60  appears  to  be  hard  to  please.  He  insists 
strongly  that  man  arrived  in  America  in  postglacial  times.  If,  how- 
ever, his  opponents  urge  an  earlier  arrival,  he  insists  quite  as  strongly 
that  this  occurred  in  the  Tertiary.     In  medio  stal  virtus. 


12  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

We  are  told  (p.  16)  that  the  most  serious  hindrance  to  progress 
toward  a  correct  interpretation  of  the  history  of  early  man  in  Amer- 
ica has  been  the  assumption  that  the  history  has  run  parallel  with  that 
in  Europe.  But  that  is  the  theory  that  grips  our  anthropologists 
to-day.  Because  skeletal  remains  of  a  low  grade  of  human  beings 
are  found  throughout  the  Pleistocene  of  Europe  it  is  argued  that, 
if  man  had  existed  here  during  that  time,  similar  skulls  and  bones 
would  be  met  with.  It  does  not  follow.  The  study  of  Pleisto- 
cene mammals  shows  that  there  has  been  extremely  little  change  in 
their  structure  during  that  time.  Is  there  any  reason  why  man  alone 
should  have  made  rapid  progress?  He  may  have  had  in  the  early 
Pleistocene  the  same  physical,  perhaps  mental,  characteristics  that 
he  now  has;  and  he  may  have  entered  this  continent  with  the  animals 
that  he  lived  with  in  Asia;  and  that  even  before  men  of  the  same  grade 
had  entered  Europe.  The  old  Heidelberg  men  and  Neanderthal  men 
were  possibly  imperfectly  developed  Hominidae  that  had  persisted 
from  Pliocene  times. 

The  author  reviewed  shows  signs  now  and  then  of  wavering  in  his 
conclusions.  He  appears  to  grant  that  the  Nampa  image  may  after 
all  have  been  fashioned  by  Pleistocene  hands;  he  is  disturbed  by  the 
discoveries  of  McGee  and  King;  at  Table  Mountain  there  are  deep 
gravels  that  appear  to  have  yielded  traces  of  human  occupancy.  This 
is  a  good  little  beginning  somewhat  long  deferred.  Sooner  entered 
upon,  it  would  have  obviated  the  need  for  that  "strenuous  opposi- 
tion" (put  somewhat  euphemistically)  which  has  been  meted  out  to 
various  men  who  may,  after  all,  be  shown  to  have  possessed  better 
judgment  than  the  experts. 

There  is  not  one  who  will  not  wish  that  the  honored  author  of  Bul- 
letin 60  may  have  yet  many  years  for  his  useful  work. 

Oliver  P.  Hay. 


No   4— pp.  13-16  January  24,  1921 

ANTHROPOLOGIC  SCRAPS. 

1211  Harvard  Street.  Washington,  D.  C. 


THE  NEWEST  DISCOVERY  OF  "ANCIENT"  MAN  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 


This  paragraph  is  devoted  to  a  gratuitous  and  unsolicited  commen- 
dation of  the  American  Journal  of  Physical  Anthropology.  Its  covers 
bear  many  distinguished  names.  If  these  names  shall  often  appear 
within  the  covers  at  the  head  of  appropriate  articles  the  publication 
will  fill  an  important  place. 

The  first  number  for  the  year  1920  contains,  on  pages  187-193,  an 
interesting  paper  over  the  familiar  initials  "A.  H."  The  present 
writer  ventures  to  touch  lightly  and  with  due  respect  on  the  subject 
there  discussed. 

Out  Zanesville-Ohio-way  last  July  that  apparently  ubiquitous, 
irrepressible,  unholy  thing,  alleged  Pleistocene  man,  suddenly  made 
its  appearance  and  threw  that  peaceful  community  into  a  state  of 
excitement.  The  disturbance  was  not  localized,  but  reached  the  sen- 
sorium  of  the  Department  of  Anthropology  in  Washington  City. 
Reaction  was  instantaneous  and  powerful.  The  wires  became  hot 
with  orders.  First  the  State  Archaeologist  was  summoned  to  the 
scene;  but  that  too  industrious  official  was  busy  at  some  distant  point 
when  he  ought  to  have  been  lying  around  ready  to  smother  such  irrup- 
tions. There  was  a  brief  delay;  but  soon  the  electrical  crepitations 
and  coruscations  recommenced,  and  they  continued  until  a  geologist 
was  discovered  and  induced  to  repair  to  the  point  of  danger.  So 
imminent  was  the  affair  that  A.  H.  himself  offered,  if  the  case  seemed 
to  warrant  it,  to  be  on  hand  "on  Tuesday  evening." 

What  had  happened  was,  according  to  the  subsequent  report  of  the 
geologist,  about  as  follows: 

Along  Muskingum  River  there  is  an  extensive  and  long-worked 
gravel  pit.  The  face  of  this  pit  is  about  75  feet  high  and  nearly  verti- 
cal. Thirteen  feet  from  its  summit  there  is  a  somewhat  harder  layer 
which  gives  rise  to  a  sort  of  shelf.     Now,  right  on  this  shelf  this  pro- 


14  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

tean  impostor  had  sprawled  himself  out  in  the  form  of  a  nearly  com- 
plete human  skeleton.  That,  however,  had  happened  some  little 
time  before  the  real  trouble  began;  and  when  the  geologist  got  there 
that  shelf,  like  another  in  a  juvenile  tale,  was  bare.  Whether  the 
skeleton  before  disclosure  had  been  lying  at  a  depth  of  15  feet  (includ- 
ing 2  feet  of  surface  stripping)  or  had  slumped  down  from  above  could 
not  be  determined.  If  it  had  lain  at  the  depth  indicated,  the  geologist 
thought  that  this  did  not  exclude  intentional  burial. 

A  skull  in  due  time  reached  the  hands  of  our  official  physical  anthro- 
pologist and  was  promptly  pronounced  to  be  that  of  an  aged  woman, 
probably  Indian.  One  must  contemplate  with  admiration  the  num- 
ber and  the  curious  construction  of  the  instruments  of  precision  em- 
ployed by  our  anthropologists  in  taking  measurements  of  the  human 
skull;  also  the  ingenuity  displayed  in  securing  dimensions  of  all  parts 
and  in  all  directions;  still  more  the  classical  formation  and  sonorous- 
ness of  the  terms  applied  to  these  parts  and  dimensions.  But  when 
it  comes  to  getting  a  decision,  the  result  is  sometimes  disappointing. 
In  the  case  of  the  skull  found  at  Vero,  Florida,  our  physical  anthro- 
pologist could  not  shake  himself  free  from  the  feeling  that  it  had  be- 
longed to  a  white  man,  or  at  least  to  one  half-white.  In  another  nota- 
ble case,  to  Dutch  dunderheads  spawned  in  the  marshes  along  the 
shores  of  the  German  Ocean  were  imputed  two  chamaecephalic  pates 
that  had  been  unearthed  on  the  plains  about  Trenton,  N.  J.  So  again 
at  Zanesville  the  possibility  was  not  excluded  that  the  aged  dame 
had  belonged  to  the  white  race.  It  would  be  ungracious  indeed  to 
insinuate  that  this  Caucasian  affinity  had  been  suggested  by  that 
tenuous  tale  about  certain  stones,  standing  near  that  spot  40  years 
ago,  set  up  "  after  the  manner  of  placing  tombstones,"  and  bearing 
certain  mystical  characters  that  no  one  had  ever  been  able  to  read. 

We  are  not  informed  what  precautions  were  taken  to  determine  the 
authenticity  of  the  skull  of  the  aged  woman.  Too  well  we  know  the 
pitfalls  that  lie  in  the  path  of  the  scientist.  Now  did  that  skull  be- 
long with  the  skeleton  that  was  found  on  that  shelf?  May  not  the 
one  have  slumped  down  from  above  and  the  other  have  been  buried 
in  the  glacial  valley  train?  There  are  reasons  for  suspecting  this. 
The  man  who  dug  up  the  skeleton  stated  that  the  body  was  6  feet 
long.  It  must  therefore  have  belonged  to  a  large  man;  the  skull  is 
that  of  a  small  woman,  "hat  band  measure  14  inches."  After  the 
skull  was  found  it  was  for  some  time  viewed  and  handled  by  many 
persons.     Is  it  not  very  possible  that  during  this  period  some  joker 


The  Newest  Discovery  of  "Ancient"  Man  in  the  United  States.    15 

or  some  trickster  substituted  for  it  another  much  like  it?  Is  the  one 
that  the  physician  examined  the  one  received  by  the  Department  of 
Anthropology?  There  are  evident  discrepancies  in  the  two  descrip- 
tions. Many  strange  things  occur  during  the  transit  of  objects;  may 
not  the  skull  put  by  the  State  Archaeologist  of  Ohio  into  the  care  of 
the  express  company  have  been  abstracted  .by  some  lover  of  gruesome 
curios?  We  shall  try  to  feel  at  ease  with  the  thought  that  the  physi- 
cal anthropologist  has  with  his  usual  vigilance  traced  the  history  of 
the  skull  ab  initio.  Nevertheless  a  presentiment  oppresses  the  writer 
that  40  or  50  years  from  now,  when  their  ebon  or  ruddy  locks  shall 
have  been  replaced  by  shiny  scalps,  when  their  whiskers  shall  have 
grown  long  and  white,  and  their  eyes  become  bleary,  the  shovellers 
of  that  gravel  pit  will  come  up  and  boast  of  the  trick  they  worked  off 
on  our  confiding  physical  anthropologist.  The  writer  has  in  his  time 
seen  many  sunny  sandbanks  and  tarried  in  many  a  gravel  pit;  and  he 
can  affirm  that  they,  and  not  gold  mines,  are  the  real  homes,  the  very 
nurseries,  of  practical  jokes. 

With  no  desire  to  disparage  the  services  of  the  inspecting  geologist, 
the  writer  personally  regrets  that  that  scientist  was  available.  It 
would  have  been  so  much  more  satisfactory  if  the  official  physical 
anthropologist  could  have  been  personally  present,  instead  of  admin- 
istering absent  treatment.  He  has  himself  lamented  the  fact  that 
such  cases  are  not  placed  for  investigation  first  of  all  in  the  hands  of 
the  anthropologists.  His  own  qualifications  have  been  proved  in 
more  than  one  difficult  case.  To  wit :  Some  amateur  anthropologists 
in  Nebraska  had  found  human  bones  buried  in  loess,  and  they 
concluded  that  this  meant  the  existence  of  man  there  during  the  period 
of  deposit  of  the  loess.  If  now  the  reader  will  peruse  Mr.  Robert  F. 
Gilder's  article  in  Records  of  the  Past,  volume  10,  pages  157-169,  he 
will  learn  how  much  excellent  geological  work  can  be  accomplished 
in  a  half  hour  by  an  enthusiastic  physical  anthropologist  equipped 
with  suitable  tools ;  also  with  what  accuracy  he  can  report  facts,  state- 
ments, and  geological  and  anthropological  conditions.  The  present 
writer  is  glad  to  add  his  own  testimony,  if  it  is  needed,  having  watched 
the  development,  by  the  official  referred  to,  of  a  geological  section 
along  the  canal  at  Vero,  Florida.  This  section  was  60  feet  long  and 
was  characterized  by  its  excavator  as  being  both  comprehensive  and 
illuminating.  It  is,  however,  to  be  regretted  that  up  to  the  present 
the  pressure  of  official  duties  has  prevented  my  colleague  from  telling 
us  what  it  comprehended  and  what  it  illuminated. 


lg  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

If  now  a  similar  section  some  scores  of  feet  in  length  had  been  run 
along  the  aforesaid  shelf  at  Zanesville,  our  honored  anthropologist 
might  possibly  have  found  some  other  bones  of  the  venerable  little 
woman,  or  bones  of  the  large  man,  or  those  of  some  other  human  being. 
His  intimate  knowledge  regarding  the  behavior  of  human  bones  after 
burial  and  his  experience  with  the  treacherous  nature  of  unconsoli- 
dated clastic  deposits  would  have  enabled  him  to  determine  to  which 
of  the  following  four  categories  the  relics  belonged:  (1)  Remains 
which  had  recently  been  buried  near  the  surface  and  which  had  been 
brought  down  by  slumping.  (2)  The  skeleton  of  some  tough  citizen 
whose  body  his  exasperated  fellows,  taking  no  further  chances,  had 
buried  at  a  depth  of  15  feet.  (3)  Bones  which  had  been  superficially 
buried,  but  which  had,  as  is  known  sometimes  to  happen,  migrated 
to  a  lower  level.  (4)  Remains  which  had  been  buried  there  in  the 
valley  train  when  the  glacier  was  not  far  away. 

Had  our  anthropologist  and  geologist  been  able  to  demonstrate  that 
the  case  came  under  category  4,  he  might  have  found  himself  ac- 
claimed Father  of  Pleistocene  Man  in  America,  all  competitors  having 
been  duly  and  justly  disqualified  and  discredited. 

At  the  close  of  his  dissertation  A.  H.  emits  a  note  of  relief  that  by 
prompt  action  the  affair  had  not  become  one  of  the  ambiguous  cases 
that  have  so  much  worried  him.  It  is  certainly  only  people  who  have 
some  dislocation  in  their  reasoning  faculties  who  will  insist  that,  inas- 
much as  the  inspecting  geologist  could  not  be  sure  that  that  skeleton 
was  not  buried  in  the  glacial  outwash,  it  is  exactly  an  ambiguous  case. 
However,  one  can  not  please  everybody;  and  our  author  ought  to  feel 
encouraged  to  attack  the  results  obtained  by  the  American  Museum 
on  the  river  plain  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  He  might  quickly  repair 
the  damage  that  in  the  estimation  of  many  people  has  been  wrought 
on  the  theories  of  the  Old  Guard,  the  confirmed  foes  of  Pleistocene 
man.  He  might  even  tell  us  why  it  is  that  these  appearances  of  sup- 
posed Pleistocene  man  occur  at  localities  where  the  environment 
would  have  permitted  him  to  exist  and  not  at  other  places  and  under 
conditions  where  he  could  not  have  existed. 

Oliver  P.  Hay. 


No.  5— pp.  17-20  December  5,  1921 

ANTHROPOLOGIC  SCRAPS 

1211  Harvard  Street.  .  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


THE  PEOPLE   WHICH  SAT   IN   DARKNESS  SAW  GREAT 

LIGHT. 


The  scientific  writings  of  Dr.  Ales  Hrdlicka  are  always  a  source 
of  joy,  of  instruction,  and  of  inspiration.  For  the  cultivation  of 
the  ratiocinative  faculty  they  are  the  equivalent  of  a  university 
course  in  logic.  It  is,  therefore,  a  pleasure  to  review  a  reprint 
entitled  "The  Anthropology  of  Asiatic  Peoples. " 

We  must  count  it  fortunate  for  those  who  dwell  in  the  shadow  and 
darkness  of  heathen  lands  that  a  religious  or  a  scientific  apostle, 
anointed  or  self-appointed,  bearing  only  a  message  and  a  hand-bag, 
can  command  railway  trains  and  steamships  and  can  follow,  perhaps 
in  the  very  footsteps  of  the  renowned  Phileas  Fogg,  Esq.,  but  with 
still  greater  speed;  that  there  need  be  no  interruptions  in  his  journey, 
as  there  were  in  Fogg's  case,  and  hence  no  compulsion  to  buy  and 
burn  any  ships  or  to  add  to  his  impedimenta  any  widow  or  any 
elephant ;  and  that  at  last  he  can  discharge  his  intellectual  or  spiritual 
burden  and  return  without  having  been  missed  from  his  accustomed 
haunts. 

The  contents  of  the  modest  brochure  were  delivered  before  a  joint 
conference  of  two  associations  in  China,  the  Medical  Missionary 
and  the  National  Medical,  at  Peking,  in  1920.  The  reader  shall  not 
be  wearied  with  the  details  of  the  weighty  problems  discussed  in  the 
pamphlet;  but  certain  "high  lights  of  the  question"  were  touched 
upon  which  invite  attention. 

It  is  refreshing  in  these  days  when  the  classical  literatures  are 
neglected,  and  even  spurned,  to  find  a  scientist  who,  in  the  midst  of 
a  discussion  of  the  origins  and  distributions  of  the  races  of  our  poly- 
chrome humanity,  of  their  different  "physical,  chemico-physiological, 
mental  and  pathological  characteristics,"  can  for  a  moment  turn 
lightly  aside  to  those  stories  which  have  charmed  the  intellects  and 


18  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

hearts  of  men  ever  since  prehistoric  times;  who  can,  in  fact,  show  that 
he  is  as  well  versed  in  mythologic  lore  as  he  is  in  paleontology,  geology, 
or  even,  perhaps,  in  anthropology.  So  our  distinguished  traveller,  to 
encourage  them  to  greater  activity  in  anthropologic  work,  blithely 
assured  those  religious  and  medical  carpetbaggers  over  in  China, 
good  people  all,  that  "southern  Asia  is  a  great  Pandora  box,  in  which 
there  is  doubtless  hidden  many  a  precious  gem  of  information,  and 
the  time  is  nearing  when  this  box,  too,  will  be  made  to  open  to 
science."  This  charming  interpretation  of  the  story  can,  however, 
hardly  have  been  obtained  from  Hesiod.  Pandora  herself  must  have 
handed  it  out. 

Our  author  is  sure  that  modern  man  has  descended  from  the 
"still  exceedingly  primitive  and  semi-anthropoid  man  of  Heidel- 
berg," of  about  the  middle  of  the  Pleistocene.  Inasmuch  as  this 
proposition  has  not  passed  beyond  the  stage  of  discussion,  one  may 
be  allowed  to  examine  its  probability. 

In  probably  no  family  of  mammals  has  there  been  made,  since  the 
beginning  of  the  Pleistocene,  any  considerable  evolutionary  progress. 
Matthew  has  estimated  it  at  about  10  per  cent  of  that  made  during 
the  Pliocene,  a  liberal  allowance.  The  horse  of  the  early  Pleistocene 
does  not  stand  midway  between  the  horse  family  and  some  other; 
but  is  so  truly  horse  that  often  his  remains  can  hardly  be  distinguished 
from  those  of  the  existing  equine.  Nor  is  the  brain  smaller,  that 
organ  which  in  man  is  supposed  to  have  undergone  so  great  increase 
in  size.  The  same  statement  may  be  made  regarding  the  elephants, 
the  bisons,  the  cats,  the  wolves,  etc.  Many  yet  living  species  are 
recognized  in  collections  made  in  early  Pleistocene  deposits.  It 
would  be  unsafe  to  say  of  any  existing  species  of  mammal  that  it  was 
not  already  in  existence  at  the  beginning  of  the  Pleistocene.  Is  it 
not  then  probable  that  man  was  in  the  early  Pleistocene  about  what 
he  is  now?  Is  it  probable  that  he  has  made  more  progress  during 
one  half  of  the  Pleistocene  than  any  other  mammal  has  made  during 
the  whole  of  it?  If  our  physical  anthropologist  believes  so  it  is  up 
to  him  to  prove  it.  The  present  writer  believes  that  the  old  Heidel- 
bergers  and  the  Neanderthalers,  together  with  the  cultures  associated 
with  them  and  their  like,  are  a  lot  of  left-overs  from  the  Pliocene; 
and  that  the  anthropologists,  in  guiding  by  them  their  course  in  human 
evolution,  have  run  into  a  cul-de-sac.  Somewhere  in  Asia,  about  the 
end  of  the  Pliocene  or  a  little  later,  the  most  advanced  races  of  men 
had  probably  reached  the  stage  now  held  by  our  more  backward 


The  People  Which  Sat  in  Darkness  Saw  Great  Light.  19 

races  and  had  already  passed  through  the  stage  of  paleolithic  culture. 
Doctor  Hrdlicka  might  consider  whether  or  not  this  is  the  reason 
why  no  paleolithic  implements  have  been  found  in  Japan;  in  case  it 
is  true  that  none  have  been  found. 

Doctor  Hrdlicka  still  nurses  the  hypothesis  that  early  Pleistocene 
men  were  rarae  aves.  Hardiness,  enterprise,  and  fertility  were 
probably  the  qualities  which  gave  our  Pliocene  and  Pleistocene 
ancestors  their  dominance.  The  era  of  comparative  infertility  was 
far  in  the  future.  No  colleges  had  yet  been  founded  for  women  and 
no  eugenic  societies  for  men. 

Our  author  is  insistent  that  the  earliest  immigrants  into  America 
had  been  driven  by  the  struggle  for  existence  to  the  inhospitable 
northeastern  corner  of  Asia;  and  that  from  there,  a  few  thousand 
years  ago,  they  made  their  way  slowly  and  painfully,  perhaps  in  little 
boats,  to  the  new  continent.  He  ought  to  know  that  the  geography, 
the  topography,  and  the  climate  in  these  regions  have  not  always  been 
what  they  are  now.  In  probably  the  early  Pleistocene,  possibly  also 
as  early  as  the  late  Pliocene,  a  way  was  opened  up  for  travel  by  terra 
firma  between  Asia  and  America.  Geologists  recognize  that  there 
was  then  a  period  of  great  elevation  of  our  continent.  The  Cascade 
Range,  as  an  example,  began  to  be  uplifted  during  the  early  Pleisto- 
cene. 

We  are  compelled  on  various  accounts  to  suppose  that  one  or  two 
bridges  were  at  that  early  time  thrown  across  Bering  Sea.  A  barrier 
extending  between  East  and  Prince  of  Wales  capes  would  have  shut 
off  the  cold  current  coming  down  from  the  Arctic  Ocean,  as  a  result 
of  which  the  sea  and  the  land  southward  would,  through  the  influence 
of  the  Japan  current,  have  become  warmer.  Along  the  north  side 
of  this  barrier  the  boreal  animals  might  have  crossed  over;  while  those 
of  temperate  Asia  might  have  made  their  way  on  the  southern  side. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  early  in  the  Pleistocene  there  swarmed  into 
America  elephants,  bisons,  musk-oxen,  goats,  bears,  wolves  and  foxes, 
besides  other  mammals  of  smaller  size.  These  surely  were  not  all 
inhabitants  of  a  boreal  climate.  If,  now,  elephants  and  ground 
squirrels  could  make  the  passage,  man  could  do  the  same;  and  the 
journey  may  have  been  a  very  pleasant  one. 

Our  lecturer  feared  that  some  of  his  hearers  had  learned  of  dis- 
coveries of  early  man  in  America  and  he  hastened  to  tell  them  that 
"every  report  of  that  nature,  when  properly  investigated,  had  been 
found  to  be  erroneous. "     That  depends,  however,  on  whose  investi- 


20  Anthropologic  Scraps. 

gations  he  had  in  mind.  If  his  own,  nobody  will  question  his  state- 
ment; it  will  be  conceded  in  advance  in  any  future  case.  If,  however, 
he  refers  to  investigations  made  by  those  who  have  opposed  most 
consistently  the  notion  of  Pleistocene  man  in  America,  then  the 
"erroneousness"  is  wholly  his  own.  In  very  few  cases  have  those 
men  claimed  that  it  was  proved  that  the  find  under  investigation 
did  not  belong  to  the  Pleistocene.  They  have  contented  themselves 
with  holding  that  the  proof  was  not  sufficient  to  demonstrate  this 
age.  Doctor  Hrdlicka  ought  to  consult  his  former  chief  on  this 
matter. 

Our  physical  anthropologist  has  too  often  been  unfortunate  in 
reporting  the  views  and  sayings  of  other  people.  In  another  case 
(Records  of  the  Past,  Vol.  X,  p.  158)  the  charge  of  misrepresentation 
was  made  against  him,  and  he  confessed  judgment.  In  reporting 
on  the  case  at  Vero,  Florida,  he  wrote  that  Mr.  Weills  had  told  him 
that  certain  bones  had  been  found  lying  in  "their  natural  relations." 
Mr.  Weills  has  always  protested  that  he  imparted  no  such  information; 
furthermore,  that  other  statements  about  these  human  bones  were 
"erroneous."  However,  to  err  is  human.  Doubtless  the  intentions 
of  our  physical  anthropologist  were  good.  The  errors  committed 
may  once  more  be  attributed  to  "hastiness  of  preparation. "  It  may 
be  mentioned  in  passing,  as  a  curious  coincidence,  that  these  chance 
deviations  from  accuracy  seem  always  to  favor  Doctor  Hrdlicka's 
side  of  the  question. 

A  tribute  has  already  been  rendered  to  the  logical  powers  of  the 
author  here  reviewed.  Confirmatory  of  the  justness  of  this  an  inci- 
dent may  be  cited:  In  1916  (Jour.  Geo!.,  Vol.  XXV,  p.  49)  Doctor 
Hrdlicka  visited  Demere  Key,  off  the  west  coast  of  Florida.  Years 
before  this,  some  interesting  Indian  structures  had  been  found  here. 
The  age  of  these  is  wholly  unknown.  Doctor  Hrdlicka  concluded 
that  their  age  was  possibly  post-Columbian.  "For  there  were 
found  on  the  Key  fragments  of  Spanish  pottery  and  glass,  while 
burial  sand  mounds  on  neighboring  keys  yielded  glass  beads."  It 
will  furnish  the  reader  a  pleasant  and  possibly  profitable  exercise  to 
construct  the  syllogism  which  underlies  this  reasoning.  Who, 
however,  can,  in  this  case  again,  question  the  benevolent  intentions 
of  our  physical  anthropologist? 

Oliver  P.  Hay. 


7  DAY  USE 

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